I read in today's New York Times, Week In Review (yes, I read actual newspapers; someone has to), that the 1,000,000th word has been added to the English language, squeaking past such notables as "Slumdog" (as in "slumdog millionaire"), "Octomom" (as in "this octomom just gave birth to eight kids") and "Noob" (as in "Troll to Elf: Noob, noob, noob, noob noob." i.e., someone new to online multiplayer gaming). The new word is (drumroll) "Web 2.0". Which in my opinion and others, is not a word but a phrase.

So, you might ask: How does a word get to be an official English language word? The criteria, according to the NYT is that the word has to appear at least once in at least 25,000 geographically scattered publications. This does not include Web sites. This means that, no, you can't simply create a page with the word "Storyist" appearing 25,000 times, nor can you create an advertising link containing the word "Storyist" and place it on 25,000 geographically scattered sites. Sorry Steve.

By comparison, the runner-up language, Mandarin Chinese, only has a bit over a half-million words. And French only a hundred thousand, roughly.

So, one million English words! Huzzah! (Yes, "huzzah" has been an English word since the late-16th century.)

I read in today's New York Times, Week In Review (yes, I read actual newspapers; someone has to), that the 1,000,000th word has been added to the English language, squeaking past such notables as "Slumdog" (as in "slumdog millionaire"), "Octomom" (as in "this octomom just gave birth to eight kids") and "Noob" (as in "Troll to Elf: Noob, noob, noob, noob noob." i.e., someone new to online multiplayer gaming). The new word is (drumroll) "Web 2.0". Which in my opinion and others, is not a word

but a phrase.

The NY Times always seems to be behind the online news sources.

Web 2.0 isn't a word, but one might argue that Web-2.0 is. I wouldn't. I think it's just a dumb term that's been around for the better part of a decade. Shouldn't we have moved on to at least Web 2.1 by now? I mean, people complain that Apple has been taking forever to release OS X 10.6.

Now, wifi has been around longer and actually sounds like a word, even though it's the union of two words. It's a bit of a joke (wireless fidelity), but I hear it used fluidly at least once a week in conversation, while no one says Web 2.0 anymore.

Storyist seems like a simple enough word to get added. Isn't there some rule that you can append "ist" to any word to make a new word? I think it works for "er" as well. See words like "typist" or "programmer". I think adding "ian" is a bit more of a stretch, but ymmv.

All newspapers are behind the online news sources. It takes time to print and distribute paper. That's why they may soon be as extinct as the dodo.

Web 2.0 isn't a word, but one might argue that Web-2.0 is. I wouldn't. I think it's just a dumb term that's been around for the better part of a decade. Shouldn't we have moved on to at least Web 2.1 by now? I mean, people complain that Apple has been taking forever to release OS X 10.6.

I agree on all points. But it's not about how long a word has been around or how often people talk about it. It's about the number of "geographically scattered publications" in which it appears.

Now, wifi has been around longer and actually sounds like a word, even though it's the union of two words. It's a bit of a joke (wireless fidelity), but I hear it used fluidly at least once a week in conversation, while no one says Web 2.0 anymore.

All good points. I'd cast my vote for "wifi" if I had a vote in this.

Storyist seems like a simple enough word to get added. Isn't there some rule that you can append "ist" to any word to make a new word? I think it works for "er" as well. See words like "typist" or "programmer". I think adding "ian" is a bit more of a stretch...

The "-ist" thing isn't so much a rule as a generally acknowledged practice. The 25,000 Rule still applies. That's why you don't see every possible form of a word in the dictionary, just those forms that are actual words.

I would imagine that each major dictionary publisher has a committee that decides which words must be included, updated, or marked archaic.

The Oxford Dictionaries people have such a committee. Angus Stevenson (Project Editor, English Dictionaries and Thesauruses at Oxford) claims to do this daily. ("Take a word such as 'nice', for example: 800 years ago it meant 'silly'; it has also meant 'lecherous', 'strange', and 'lazy'.") I also happen to know that in the mid-17th century a “computer” (from “compute,” meaning “to reckon”) was a person employed to perform mathematical calculations. The term wasn't applied to objects that could be used for reckoning (e.g., a slide rule) until the 19th century.

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This thread provides a new home for the offtopic discussion of overmuffins and overloquation. If you like to make up new words, this is the thread for you!

Like I said. You first. (Or is "overloquation" your entry? If so, you forgot to define it. It is, I suspect, a nonstandard form of "loquaciousness"? The only other standard noun form is "loquacity" not "loquation", much less "overloquation".)

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Like I said. You first. (Or is "overloquation" your entry? If so, you forgot to define it. It is, I suspect, a nonstandard form of "loquaciousness"? The only other standard noun form is "loquacity" not "loquation", much less "overloquation".)

-Thoth.

No, no, no. That is not the game.

The game is a fun game. The game is a small game. This is the game. Do you know the rules yet? Can you play?

The game is a silly game. The game is a fun game. The game is a small game. This is the game. Do you know the rules yet? Can you play?

Issac: Have you ever heard of the old word game The Minister's Cat?

Web 2.0? What's that??? Never heard of it.

Since I'm drawing a blank on made up words, anyone here know the Jeff Foxworthy (or is it Bill Engvall) routine with the Redneck words? They're fun. Like Mayonaise...... "Mayonaise a lot of people here tonight" (say it outloud with a hick accent) and Widyadidya... "Ya didn't bring yer truck widyadidya?"

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Of course, there's the Big Bird word, Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz. I love that word. It's the best word in the whole alphabet.

Of coarse, there's my favorite made-up name, Madea Dagdedon. That was how my brother said Mary Magdalen when we were drinking and playing texas holdem one night. Don't ask why we were talking about Madea Dagdedon. That's a long, funny, and highly inappropriate story.

So next time you go exploring a volcano remember to wear a dust mask. So many people forget the basics when they're choosing a lair.

-Thoth.

I had that word in a sixth grade spelling bee. I won because of it. It's ironic that it came up here. Thanks.

As for lairs, I've never been a volcano man myself. I'm more of a water man. That's why my lair is being built under the ocean. I won't tell you which ocean, since that's the whole point of having a lair. It's almost done though. When it is, I will own all of you. Mwahahaha.